Tunisian desert ride

by Iuli

If you ever go to Tunisia (and trust me, you should) the very thing not to miss at all is a trip to the Tunisian desert. It is not only the closest thing to being to the Sahara desert without being an experimented adventurer but also the chance to explore a part of the world that you had no idea it still existed.

I will not be writing here about stuff that you can do on your own out there, in the desert. That, as I have said, is for the ones with some idea about what there is to be seen or done and with some driving skills and experience. My trip was organized by a tour agency and, although I am most of the times not a big fan of organized traveling, I must say this time I was more than fine with being told what to do and for how long… and even if you choose to adventure out there on your own, the maps and directions I am giving here could be of some help, I believe.

Once you get to Tunisia, there are many offers you can find for such trips. If you get there by a tour operator, the tour operator will most surely come to you with its own. My advice is to browse the internet for pricing information before getting there, as the offers vary in price, depending on your departure point in Tunisia, days of travel (most of the trips are for two days, but there can also be found single or multiple day offers) and, of course, depending on the organizing agency. In my case such differences in price have not been large, namely that we had to pay about 115e per person for a two day trip from Hammamet up to Matmata and retour via Sfax and El Djem (yes, Tunisians have their own Colosseum), with one night 4* accommodation in Tozeur and meals included. Other tour operators were charging about 100e per person for the same thing, but with English guide so we stuck to our Romanian speaking Tunisian whom has been a pleasure to be traveling with.

We have started our journey in Hammamet quite early in the morning (about 6 or so) and then traveled down south to the gathering point in Sousse. Our first stop was an early morning visit to Kairouan (or Al Qayrawan, by its Arabian name) the third important city in the Muslim world, listed among the UNESCO monuments, where the Great Mosque of Kairouan (Mosque of Uqba) is located. Kairouan is not only renowned for its spiritual value but also for its beautiful handmade carpets which we had the chance to admire in a large shop inside the Medina.

As I was expecting a coach journey to be exhausting and boring, I had the chance to prove myself wrong, as we had several stops along the way, each at an interval of one to two hours, to stretch our backs, eat, shop and admire the beauty of the places along our trip. The first one of such stops was at Jelma, where we had the chance to do some shopping in a very low-priced super-market that sold all kinds of goods, from shisha tobacco to Tunisian perfumes and spices. From here we have bought maps (it is my advice to have at least one map with you because it gives you a very clear image of the itinerary and the sights along with it) that I have later used to mark the route and places visited and that you can also find here.

Lunch time caught us at Gafsa, where we have stopped for a meal in a 5* hotel restaurant. I particularly liked this hotel for its typical Arabian atmosphere, furniture and mosaics. I will not tell you about the quantity of food I ate in Tunisia nor the quality, as this is for each person to appreciate on his own. What I can tell you is that I have found everything to be very tasty (even if I didn’t like the taste sometimes – I am very hard to be kept away from chicken and fries) but this is giving a quite clear idea about the ‘plastic’ we keep eating here, in Europe. It is the intensity of flavors in Tunisia that made me enjoy every meal I had.

Our guide has told us something interesting about the Tunisian desert: that it was of three types: an earth desert, a rocky desert and a sand desert… That means, we were at the very edge of the Sahara, where the earth is first deserted of vegetation and then there is no more earth at all. To see such empty places is a sensation words can barely describe, because while you feel the world is ending there and there can be nothing found beyond you are still overwhelmed by the size of it all.

Somewhere near Tozeur we have traded our coach for a more adrenaline off-road drive and we have been given the chance to a place in a ‘non-adrenaline’ car and so I did, considering myself lucky to be riding along with some older ladies. One thing to keep in mind when planning such a desert trip is that the Tunisian infrastructure is far beyond your imagination of an African country because for as much as I could see, the Tunisians have built good roads taking you almost anywhere into their desert.

From here on we headed towards the oasis of Chebika, where scenes from the Star Wars and The English Patient have been shot. This oasis is an amazing burst of green and life and breathtaking landscapes leaving you speechless at the sight of what a drop of water can create into the desert. It was also the first place on our journey where we could find the famous desert roses for sale (some even 1 meter tall!), along with other traditional Tunisian manufactured items but my advice is to wait shopping for roses until getting to Chott el Djerid (if getting there) as the ones to be found in the chott area are far more beautiful (the sparkling one in the picture is a good example to what I am saying).

Following Chebika, our true adventure had started. We have left the asphalt road (already with some of the passengers in our car complaining there was no real adrenaline on this ride, except speeding like hell) for a route towards ‘the Camel Head’ (a hill resembling to the head of a camel, where we have found the largest population of flies existing in this world), and ‘Tatoouine’ – the place where the scenes from the Tatoouine planet in Star Wars have been shot. I have no idea what it was in my mind thinking that some ladies in their late years would not enjoy riding the dunes but next time I will surely not base my choices upon appearances. I am not sorry at all it happened so, though, as this off-road journey, with my beloved ladies screaming in the back and assuring the Berber driver of a huge tip for the increase in adrenaline level, is definitely the part of the desert ride that I loved most. I even had no idea I knew so many prayers, in so many different languages and to so many gods, but when you’re in a car riding a hill at almost 70 degrees you get to learn a lot of things about yourself. And, Lord, did we dance the hoola hoop among the dunes!

What I can tell for sure is that my prayers had surely worked because as we were preparing for our last dune before getting to ‘Tatooine’, our car’s steering broke, leaving us direction-less and speed-less in the middle of nowhere… but at least at the moment we were not driving with a more than 45 degree side inclination!

We have had therefore our share of adrenaline more than the tour operator has planned, far more than I had in mind and even close to missing our carriage ride in the oasis of Tozeur. And yes, we have paid the ex-Paris-Dakar (by his own saying) driver a very good tip to compensate for the sadness in his eyes when seeing the other cars passing by us – us, the top of the adrenaline level in the desert!

Which brings me to the ‘tip’ advice for Tunisia – everything in Tunisia is negotiable and for every service there must be a tip included. It’s not something to be scared about, it’s local habit and if not, it’s the polite way to show appreciation for people who get to earn in a year the amount some of us can make in a couple of months. The tip should not be very large, one-two dinars at most (that is 1 euro or so) but I can tell you that a five dinar tip would definitely buy you a very good spot on the beach, with wood floor and reed shading and nice mattresses for your sun-beds.

The town of Tozeur is located in the west of Tunisia, in the middle of a 1000ha oasis and is a veritable Arabian spot, with mosaic decorated houses and shisha cafes. It was here that we have found about palm tree fertilization (workers climb up and down from the she-palm tree to the he-palm tree, that is more than 20m for each) and that we ate and bought tasty date jam. Although I had heard some rumors about scorpion encounters around the Tozeur area, I hadn’t personally had any, but that didn’t keep us from checking the curtains and under the bed in our hotel room (?!).

 

Our second day in the desert started early in the night (around 3 A.M.) so that we had had time for breakfast before boarding the coach again and catching the sunrise above the Chott el Djerid, the salt lake whose surface reaches 7000km2. Seeing the sun rising above Chott el Djerid has definitely compensated for all the sun-rises I have missed in my entire life because I couldn’t wake up. The Tunisians have build a good asphalt road across the lake, linking Tozeur to Gafsa, our following stop that day, where we had another adrenaline rising experience with riding camels dressed-up as Beduins. Considering the camels, the nice smiling camels, please take my advice and do not ride them if you are above 90-100kg and spare your companions of seeing brutal images like I had seen, with poor camels struggling through sand ridden by twice-their-weight people – I know that what I am saying is discriminating, but since camels cannot talk and their masters are too polite to talk in their name… there are carriages offered, for those who not enjoy riding that much or those who like to eat a lot.

Have you ever imagined that there are people who still live in homes dug in the ground or, if so, have you ever thought of how it would be like inside such a home? Our trip has led us to such a place, called Matmata, where Berber people still live in their underground houses forming the largest troglodyte community in the world. After having a short break at Tamezret, the village with houses build in stone where we served mint-tea with almonds and a most delicious nut and honey pie, we took our lunch at Matmata, which is in fact the sight that has inspired the home place of Anakin and Luke Skywalker from the Star Wars movie. Our lunch contained typical Berber dishes, couscous with vegetables and chickpeas and a traditional pie that remains one of the best things I’ve eaten in my entire life.

A visit inside a troglodyte Berber house was of course included in our schedule and it was good that our guide has chosen us a spot away from the crowded places, so that we could take our time and shot loads of photos and even dress-up traditional Berber wedding gowns. Our lady-host was very welcoming and nice and served us with bread and honey mixed with oil (take my advice and do not be greedy with that!) placed on a plate where tips (of course) were to be dropped.

The afternoon has brought me a well-deserved sleep along the road in my set inside the couch, so I cannot be writing much about the sights on the way from Matmata to Mahres, were we stopped for smoking, stretching backs and legs, losing and regaining one of my earrings, café turc and other ‘impressive’ stuff to be found in a road-side supermarket and tavern.

The last sight of our journey was at amphitheatre in El Djem (Al Jamm, in Arabian), built by the Romans and the third largest in the world, capable of seating about 35 000 people, where, as you imagine, gladiator battles and chariot races used to take place back in the antiquity. The huge amphitheatre is build of stone blocks which is probably the reason why it has remained so well preserved and surrounded by lots and lots of stalls selling mostly (silk, pashmina etc.) scarves at very good and negotiable prices. The sight that has indulged me most in El Djem was a traditional Arabian house right across the road from the amphitheatre, with blue windows and tile decorated walls.

From El Djem to Sousse we have crossed one of the world’s largest olive tree plantations and the evening of our second journey day has caught us back in Sousse, wherefrom we have been transported to our hotels.

The desert ride was probably the best choice we could make for our entertainment in Tunisia, and, although exhausting from all points of view, it was the closest thing to a cultural tour that I have made until now and it has definitely opened my eyes to the richness of traditional values, habits and places.

More photos from Tunisia can be found here.